Leadership can be viewed in many ways, often than not we would chance upon similar leadership qualities in our organisation. Leaders that demonstrates the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership have proved to be more satisfying to work with, as they make you feel more committed, excited, energized and gives the organisation a more positive influence (Kouzes and Posner 2006). Kouzes and Posner (2006) discovered when leaders are at their personal best, there are five fundamental practices that is common.

Modelling the way is basically about how the leader can earn the respect from others by setting the right example. Short to say, you follow the person before the plan (Kouzes and Posner 2006). Many leaders have their fair share of inspiring vision and they need to be convinced in the dreams in order to achieve it (Kouzes and Posner 2006). Taking risk is considered a challenge for a leader, as you may fail or succeed. However, being able to accept change can prove to be beneficial to the organisation. Leaders need to allow feedback and encourage teamwork to develop capabilities and skillset of the team (Wiley 2015). Rewarding hard work is common in most organisations, it makes people will appreciated (Wiley 2015).

Image Source: MYN Collective 2013

Coco Chanel has always been an inspiring story in the fashion world, she not only created iconic fashion statements which remained one of the most luxury and famous brand name even 30 years after her death, she dared to change what was typical women clothing in 1920s post World War. Coco Chanel wasn’t just ahead of her time, she was often ahead of herself (Sischy 1998). Coco Chanel was not only an entrepreneur, she introduced fashion freedom to women as she redefined the suffocating corset fashion to simple feminine clothes like the little black dress and impeccable tweed suits (Berry 2013). Coco Chanel was a visionary leader that created diversity and change during a strong masculine era. Coco Chanel was one of the most successful business leaders that went from rags to riches as she overcome the early death of her mother and was left by her father to be brought up by nuns in a convent (Entrepreneur 2008). However, her dejected childhood did not stop her from becoming the visionary leader she was. Instead, it strung her well and made her the strong leader she was.

Image Source: Lifehack Quotes 2015

I believe a leader needs to also be an opportunist to create a revolution (Graj 2013). Sheryl Sandberg, current COO of Facebook believed that technology was going to change the world and people’s lives when she decided to leave Google to join Facebook (Baer 2014). She also identified that being a leader does not mean you are an aggressive bully, as leadership portrays the confidence to speak out for the better good (McFadden and Whitman 2014). I was often remarked to be too bossy by my family members and team members and this is something I need to reflect and improve on. Sandberg argued that the word “bossy” tends to give a negative impact and causing girls to avoid leadership roles to avoid being labelled as “bossy” (McFadden and Whitman 2014). Based on my performance appraisal for the last 3 years as a team lead, I have shown continuous improvement in leading my team. I have consistently provide training to new and existing staff as well as meticulously check on their individual tasks to ensure we achieve our Service Level Agreement (SLA). Dealing with applications and servers on a daily basis, the team has also relied on me during crisis situation where I need to coordinate with other teams to get an issue resolved in a timely manner to reduce downtime and not affect operations. To encourage my team members, I often praise them when they have done a good job and I ensure that the management is aware of their contribution as a leader cannot be selfish.

Upon completion of my MBA, I hope to be an ethical leader who is not afraid to accept change. I believe if I am persistent, the organisation would be able to accept my views as a leader. Throughout the course, the subject that I have found to be the most useful to my job is Leadership as it has a lot of aspects that indirectly or directly interrelates to my current position.

It is not easy to comply to all 5 practices as a leader. However, i would first need to set a good example and have a common vision. Taking risk is always important for a leader to gain your follower’s trust. Lastly, always reward your followers contribution to show appreciation.